Great ideas for shelves

Create the storage you need with inspiration from these shelves for kitchen, living room, hall, garden, mudroom, bathroom, and more

Floating book shelves

Typical store-bought floating shelves are suitable only for displaying objects, as they have a weight capacity of 10 or so pounds. That's why California architect Stephen Atikinson created what might be called built-in floaters of pine and red oak, with seriously strong support.

The total cost of the project was $500. Wood trim hides the brackets supporting the shelves, creating an elegant appearance reinforced by the larger display shelf at the bottom.

With storage and display shelves resembling large egg crates, the simple wall system shown here defines the kitchen, dining, and living areas of this California cabin, and keeps everything in plain sight.

The ladder leads to a loft, and the inside of the box actually houses a bathroom.

Create a still life

Books find a home alongside art and other treasures on these lightweight suspension shelves. The airy unit serves double duty as storage and display case.

Tip: Leave books off the top shelf. Reserve that space for unusual objects so they don’t have to compete with a row of titles.

Let in the light

A two-story bookcase of wood and glass acts as a room divider and light chimney, bringing sunlight into the parlor of a remodeled San Francisco Victorian.

If the shelf fits, use it

18 horizontal inches of wall may have more possibilties than you think. Designer Lotta Jansdotter put a Benno CD tower on its end and used it as shelving for books and curios.

Open shelves are all about easy access, but they force you to edit. “When it’s in plain sight, you know what you’ve got,” says designer Maybelle Imasa-Stukuls. “You forget about things behind cupboard doors.” Oaktown cubby unit ($399) was from Stumasa.

Provide privacy, keep space

The light and airy solution for space in this master bath was to contrast icy blue glass mosaic tiles with warm wood.

See-through shelving made from high-grade plywood defines a shower area without walling it off. Unobstructed light fills the space.

Cubbies are ideal for storage and display ― and are easy to stack and rearrange. Cubes $60 and $80 from Stumasa. Office Basics accordion-style organizer $36; seejanework.com.

Homework center

Adjustable Plexiglas shelves keep everything in this workspace handy but out of the way.

Brighten up a nook

Create a colorful focal point in a small space by painting your shelves (including the back) a bright color. Here, pumpkin-colored shelves (Kelly-Moore's Deep Spice wall paint, KM3608-5) act as a backdrop to deep brown and burnt orange accessories.

Tame chaotic piles

Open shelves can look cluttered. Unite unruly stacks by showcasing a collection of objects of similar shape and color. Even the most haphazard piles will seem intentional.

Keep horizontal stacks on lower shelves to prevent them from looking precarious.

Give them space

Extend built-ins to create a frame for the door or adjoining room. Take advantage of all that space by displaying photos, art, and some well-chosen trinkets among the books.

White paint keeps a book-filled wall from feeling heavy.

Color-coded walls

Open shelves in this Oregon beach house are painted the colors of the shoreline. "We tell visitors to turn left at the green wall for the media room or left at the blue wall for the bathroom," says Homeowner Jo Landefel.

Office in a closet

Her small San Francisco home didn't have space for a home office, so Sara Menuck converted her living room closet into a chic, streamlined work-station.

For $1,000, including materials and labor, her designer removed the closet pole and added an upper covered storage area, a floating middle shelf, and a work surface with an almost-hidden drawer. Says Menuck, "I hardly ever close the doors."

Open shelves feel hospitable―guests can just grab wineglasses off the shelf―and force you to edit.

Try following this homeowner's rule of thumb: “If you use it more than once a week, have it out. If you use it a few times a month, stick it in a cabinet. Once or twice a year? It belongs in the basement.”

"The typical kitchen cabinet has a lot of wasted space," says Lea Schneider, author of Growing up Organized. "You can't see or get to what's in the back, so things get forgotten and food items can get outdated, especially in lower cabinets."

A pantry kit like this allows you to see and access everything. These solid wood units allow you to customize the height of shelves and glide each unit out of the way on piano hinges.